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Question #69c90

1 Answer

Increasing the number of resistors in a parallel branch increases the total resistance of that branch, turning that branch into a series circuit.

Let's use only the right-hand branch of the combination circuit shown above to explain this.

You can see that two resistors have been placed on the very right-hand branch. The #1 Omega# and the #3 Omega# resistor are connected in series. That means the total resistance of this branch needs to be found using #R_T = R_1 + R_2#, giving a total resistance on this branch of #4 Omega#.

If, instead, these two resistors were placed in two different parallel branches, by using #1 / R_T = 1 / R_1 + 1 / R_2#, the total resistance of those two resistors would be only #0.75 Omega#.